


Frozen In

by Cap2theDark



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I'll leave a link for the actual smutfest I want for this elsewhere, Online Romance, no powers au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-13 21:12:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13579035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cap2theDark/pseuds/Cap2theDark
Summary: If she really had to think about it, all of this was Chloe’s fault. In the case of most things that happened to their small class, a lot of things were her fault. Last year, the queen bee had managed to get detention during finals week. Apparently, the two hours after school that she had to spend had cut into her studying hours and when she had gotten poor grades, her father had almost sued the entire school district. Because of that fiasco, any student that received detention before or during the week of midterms or finals, would serve the hours the last day of testing.Who could have ever thought that would be a problem?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So forgive the beginning part here, the POV kind of changes around a bit, but once the actual story begins, it’ll be told ether through Marinette’s or Adrien’s POV.

❄Chapter One❄

 

❄9 Days Until Winter Break

 

Alya

Normally, Marinette’s best friend’s investigative interests were tame. She about upcoming special events, new club formations, and testing schedules. She also did features on local restaurants or new openings in the area that student life could flock to after school. But her favorite pieces to do exposés. The girl had a nose like a basset hound for uncovering the truth. So when she found some discrepancies in the school’s funding, and found that the principal was directing more of the collective school fundraisers to the sports department than had previously been accepted by the student council, she posted it all over the school blog. 

Alya was really a hero for doing it, but with great power comes great responsibility because she had posted the article without first addressing the teacher editor, Madame Bustier, and was given detention. 

❄8 Days Until Winter Break  
Nino

And of course, Nino would not take a misuse of power like that against his sort-of-kind-of-not-really girlfriend. Sure, she had gone around one little protocol, but it wasn’t like she had basically stolen from the other clubs in the school.

So in retaliation, and within the same school week too, Nino had printed up posters of Principal Damocles with photoshopped dollar bills flying out of his pockets. He had been caught by one of the school’s security officers and given detention because he had placed posters on the school’s wall without first getting permission.

Really, none of his had been his fault. If anything, he should be charged as an incredible sometimes-maybe-boyfriend. However, it had been Adrien’s fault that they had gotten caught. He was suppose to be watching the halls, but instead he had gotten a text on his phone from his ‘Ladybug’.

Nino really couldn’t blame the guy. For the past few months, he had been going on and on about this girl he met online in a chatroom for fashion. Adrien hadn’t even wanted to make a profile, but his father had forced him into it. All he ever got on the site were tons and tons of fan messages, but he did find some of the messages intriguing. And being the great wingman he was, he suggested that the half time super model make a second, anonymous profile with the username ‘Chat Noir’ (not what he would’ve picked, but it wasn’t his dating life, that’s for sure).

Ever since he really started talking to ‘Ladybug’, he was nothing but smiles whenever he was on his phone. Still, dude could’ve picked a better time to try his flirt game because they both had detention now.

❄5 Days Until Winter Break

Kim

Kim… Well, Kim was bound to make it into detention somehow every month or so. He took too many light hearted dares seriously, and with a girl like Alix Kubdel constantly baiting him on, he was destined to end up trapped behind a desk for a few extra hours.

To make a long story short, he had been dared to dash across the hall with a soccerball, and kick it for the ‘goal’ into the science classroom. He had broken a set of beakers and had gotten caught for it.

❄4 Days Until Winter Break

Nathaniel

So far, students were being thrown left and right into detention since Thursday. Well, it was almost expected that after Alya went down, Nino was sure to follow and it was unfortunate that Adrien got caught in the middle. With Kim, he was just setting up the curse for the rest of the student body count. Nathaniel had an urgent sense that someone would follow in all their shoes that day.

What he hadn’t expected was that it would be him.

The red head had slept through his alarm and was almost an hour late to school to Madame Mendeleiev’s class of all teachers to have first on a Tuesday morning. At least he wouldn’t be alone, he supposed.

❄3 Days Until Winter Break

Marinette

With a detention given out everyday for the past four days, everyone was on edge. Not to mention it was the first day of midterms. Luckily, they would only have half days of class, with everyone getting to leave right during lunch for the rest of the day. You would think that with all the testing and the shorter amount of time in school, that Marinette would find it difficult to get herself in trouble.

She was terribly mistaken. After all, she was a girl with a crush and a cellphone with an awesome data plan. 

She had found a site, sponsored by Agreste Fashion. It was a chatting site for people in the fashion world. People could post conceptual designs and get feedback, or even post internships and collaborations. It was like the twitter of the design world and she loved it. It even gave her the courage to send some designs she had in mind to Adrien Agreste. She realized that he probably wouldn’t even run his own page on a site like that, and she never even checked if he had replied after that. It was almost like closure for her. 

She had had a crush on him for years, since they were like 15, but now that she was 17, almost 18, and growing into a young lady, she realized kind of how ridiculous her crush on him was. Sure, she knew him through friends, but they hardly ever spoke and she didn’t know a thing about him outside of his work.

Besides, she had actually met a guy that she did get to learn about. Well, Marinette was desperately hoping it was a guy her age and not some weirdo. They had been chatting (and flirting) for a while, but neither of them had gotten to the point of sending pics. It wasn’t until the night before that they discovered that they were both students in Paris and they most likely lived in the same school district because they had the exact same testing schedule. And she just ended up… going for it. 

Before school started, she had sent ‘Chat’ a text.

‘well, since we do get out at the same time on Friday, maybe we could meet up for a coffee? Lol’

He hadn’t responded before class started. But now that she had finished with her test and had to wait another half hour or so before she would be let out. Marinette had planned on just sitting quietly and doodling in her notebook, but she saw her phone light up with a notification. Her heart skipped a beat. And like any typical schoolgirl with a new crush, she reached ‘casually’ in her bag to see the response, when she was caught and given detention, and had her phone confiscated for the rest of the testing time.

The thirty minutes couldn’t have ticked by any slower, but, when she received her phone back, it had been worth the wait.

‘sorry,:p  
im busy friday afternoon  
butttttt i could do lunch on saturday?  
my treat’

Marinette replied quickly with  
‘yea, i think i just got plans for friday too  
but saturday sounds perfect’

The cheesy text that followed should have been expected, but made her giggle anyway  
‘i think you mean purrfect :3c’

❄2 Days Until Winter Break

Alix

It had been five straight days of detentions. If there had been school on the weekends, Alix was pretty sure someone would’ve gotten hook on those days too. Normally, she wasn’t the superstitious type, but there was only a handful kids left in class that would actually be allowed out Friday at 1:15, and she wanted to be one of the lucky ones.

The entire class had finished testing for the day, but they were all supposed to remain silent, especially with entire-tree-stuck-up-her-ass Mendeleiev as the proctor. The pink haired girl eyed the classroom, just waiting for someone to fuck up somehow. She went over the names in her head, Rose, Juleka were still safe. Those two literally never got detention, so they were out of the pool of contestants. Ivan was always a reliable source, but with his recent hook up with Mylene, who was safe, had quieted his temper. 

If she had to put her money on three, her picks would be Max (the quiet ones were always the worse), Sabrina (the right hand to the devil), and Chloe Bourgeois, the queen herself. 

So she kept her eyes on the three of them, patiently waiting for perhaps Chloe to pull out her phone, or Sabrina to get bullied by her to call and order them a pizza, or maybe Max to implode or something! She didn’t know! And she didn’t care! She just didn’t want to be the one.

Finally, with 30 seconds on the clock before the bell rang, her patient fizzled away “Is someone going to fucking do something?”

“Kubdel! Language! Two hours after school tomorrow.”

Alix had walked right into that one. She smacked herself in the forearm “Aah, shit.”

“That’s three hours now!” Madame Mendeleiev called out just before the bell rang.

❄Less Than an Hour Until Winter Break

Chloe

Tests as always had been boring. She casually cheated off Sabrina, as usual. She had other things on her mind like how she was committing for this winter break to be the make it or break it for her and Adrien. They were all going to be heading off to university soon and if they weren’t official by the end of the break, then it was going to mean that they would never be together. She would go off to college and he would continue on with his career and go to exotic countries and meet even prettier, more interesting girls. If she was going to lock his ass down. It was gonna be during this break.

Of course, planning like this never came naturally to her, so she turned to her best friend, whispering so she wouldn’t disturb their mild manner proctor “So what’s the 411 on Adrien’s schedule this winter break? His dad sending him anywhere I should know about?”

The red head hummed, remembering what she had seen on his schedule that they had stolen from this morning “No, in fact Agreste is going on break this winter, no show or anything. Gabriel is suppose to be heading to Japan actually. They say that there is a really bad storm that suppose to come in a few days. They say it’s the biggest they’ve ever see-”

The impatient blond waved her off “Yea, yea, weather, whatever. Tell me what Adrien’s suppose to be doing after school today.”

Sabrina touched her chin “Um, didn’t you hear? He has detention today with everyone else.”

Chloe yelled “What?!” And pounded her fist on their shared desk.

The protector did nothing more than shush her.

“How did that happen?” Sabrina went to answer her, but predictably, the blond cut her off “Nevermind. I can’t just let Adrien be stuck in detention all alone.”

Sabrina looked over to her friend. She never knew why she thought she would ever get better. She helped in creating the monster. So if the monster wanted to jump off the cliff, who was she to stop her? “Then why don’t you get detention too? You can sit quietly together for three hours after class-”

“Perfect idea Sabrina! Hey, you, Professor Whatever your name is? I want detention.” She pushed out her seat to go up to the teacher’s desk.

The older man sat up “Excuse me? Go back to your seat.”

“No, I’m not leaving until you give me detention.”

“This is a very backwards way of doing things, you know?”

“Shut up, what do you even mean? My Dad is the Mayor of this town so you’d better just give me what I want.”

The man shrugged “Alright, five hours it is.”

“What?! That is waaaay too long, are you crazy?”

“I’ll just make it six then.”

When Miss Mendelev heard that she would have to stay for six hours after school to watch all these brats, she brewed herself another cup of coffee. Even if she was going to be the only teacher left, at least she’d be getting overtime to put up with this shit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one for set up purposes.

❄Chapter Two❄

Detention had been well underway for the past hour. Most of the group would be able to leave in the next hour, which would be a great relief. With Mendeleiev watching over them, it was a brain draining hour though. She had confiscated all of their phones and locked them in her desk drawer, their backpacks were all placed into the janitor’s closet, and the teacher had the keys to both of them in her labcoat. So they were stuck in silence, with literally nothing to do. Not even homework if they were desperate to do something. 

And unless they planned on joining Chloe for six hours, no one was even going to bother to talk. So Marinette and Alya resolved themselves to lay their heads on the table in front of them and face away from each other to avoid the temptation of passing hand signals between them. The clock just begged them for one more hour.

The dark haired girl at least had the widow to look out of, just on the other side of the room. She had been watching as more and more snow had come down. The building had a heating system so the class was alright without their jackets and such in the back of the room. The walk home wouldn’t be fun though. She wondered how many inches of snow must be out there. She heard that there was suppose to be a storm at the beginning of the week, but with classes and tests, she hadn’t paid much mind to the weather announcements. And if school hadn’t been cancelled, then could it really be that bad?

She doubted it. She was much more concerned about her date plan for tomorrow. Her stomach was in eager knots over it. She hadn’t even traded pictures with the guy. She should do that tonight, so she’d know what to expect. She was vaguely aware that he had once said he was blond. Maybe that’s why in her head she thought Chat Noir was cute. Damn, she sooo had a fucking type. Sue her. Chat just made her feel things with his stupid flirty comments. It had her grinning like an idiot, even now.

She couldn’t wait to meet him tomorrow. 

Only 56 more minutes until she could. Uuuugh. She wasn’t going to make it.

Suddenly, the winds outside whipped at the widows, causing the class to jump at the noise. The purple haired teacher got up from her desk to survey the weather outside but concluded that it was just a gust of wind and nothing more and continued to go back to grading papers.

Meanwhile, news reporters were broadcasting on live televisions just a street down that this was the storm of a century. Police were forcing people back into their homes for their own safety as inches of snow turned into feet. Tom and Sabine were just about to go get their daughter, when the police forced them back into their homes. Wherever Marinette was now, she would be safe. She would have to be safe because no one was going to be able to get out. Their dog, Tikki, howled as the winds whipped up higher. Even the police had to flee for their own safety. The storm was here.

Everyone in the classroom was on their feet, watching as the winds went from subtle to a full on flurry hurricane outside. They watched helplessly as snow piled over cars and windows. Standing near the windows was chilling. 

Marinette heard whispers from her classmates about getting their things and booking it home and she tended to agree with how bad the storm was looking. They had to go!

“Class! Return to your seats this instant!” She was able to get some compliance as she stood at the head of the class “I know it looks bad outside but I can’t let any of you go. It looks dangerous. Let me go make a call to the Principal and see what he wants to do about all this.” She left to make the call just outside the classroom.

Everyone erupted in talk. Alya first turned to her best friend “Is this a fucking joke? What’s Mr. Damocles going to be able to do? I don’t even think a helicopter can fly in this weather. First day of break is already ruined!”

Marinette groaned “You’re telling me! I can’t be stuck here!”

Nino butted his head in “None of us want to be! Man! I was gonna go to my first adult party and everything tomorrow.”

His maybe-sort-of-girlfriend looked down towards him “And when exactly were you gonna invite me?”

“Ever think I might not?” Nino smiled wickedly as the maybe-they-should-stop-fucking-with-each-other-couple started going at it, Marinette tuned out.

She did hear the soft voice of her old crush ask “When do you think she’ll give us our phones back?” Their eyes locked “I wanna send out a text before the storm takes down the lines.”

The dark haired girl nodded in agreement “Yea. I had..plans for tomorrow. With this storm, I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”

“Yea, same.” He chuckled. It sounded nervous.

They were all nervous.


	3. Into the Snow

❄Chapter Three❄

Mendeleiev stepped back into the classroom, only to head towards the backroom “Turns out the storm isn’t that terrible. However, none of you are allowed to leave until I return with a bus to take everyone home.” She started to put on her winter jacket, shoes, and mittens, getting ready to brave the cold.

“What? What do you mean? You can’t just leave us here!” Nino stood up, feeling on edge about the teacher’s sudden change into a helpful attitude. 

“Monsieur Lahiffe! You will do as you are told and sit.” She ordered “I will be back soon. The buses are just around the back of the building. No one is to leave this classroom. Is that understood?”

The class sat in silence. 

She didn’t have the energy to make them repeat it after her.

Marinette stared outside. The snow was up to the windows now. Nearly half her body length tall. She didn’t see how a bus was going to be able to take them home. Still, out of fear and obedience, she sat with the rest of the class and waited while their teacher locked them into the classroom to be sure that no one would be able to leave. 

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

Who was she kidding? Marinette wasn’t ever going to be the one to be subdued by fear or obedience. She had a track record for defying authority and she wasn’t about to stop now. Sometimes adults were just plain wrong. She held her breath for 24 seconds and smoothly slid out of her seat. Alya already called out to her “Girl! What are you doing?”

“Proving a point.” Marinette quickly looked out the small window of the classroom door and tried for the handle, even if she knew it’d prove unless. She didn’t see a peak of purple hair though, so the rest of her half thought out plan would be easy to do “Alya, my bag, I think I have a few hair pins in there. Grab them for me?” She moved the teacher’s chair out of the way, trying each drawer til she found the locked one.

The classroom crowded around the desk to see what she was gonna do. Nino naturally took the spot of lookout at the door. Alya handed her one of the three thin pieces of metal she could find at the bottom of her backpack.

Adrien, most curious of all, since he felt out, having no idea what she was about to do asked the obvious “What are you gonna do with that?”

“Try my hand at lock picking.” She answered, pulling back the hairpin, separating the two pieces “We need our phones if we ever want to get out of here.” She slid the pick in. Trying to here for the pins getting pushed up was not going to be possible. It was just too small and she just had to try for luck that these cheap wooden desks wouldn’t have that much security behind them.

Everyone waited with baited breath as Marinette picked the lock and after a two minute wait, when Kim was about to suggest just smashing the damn thing open, the lock turned and they were in. Everyone grabbed a hold of their phones and turned it on, only to see that no one had service. Not a single one of them.

Marinette had even tried the emergency call on her phone with no such luck “She didn’t call anyone.” She confirmed for everyone “She couldn’t have.”

“So she went out on a suicide mission to try to get us all home!” Nino hit the door after trying for the knob “We have to stop her. Nobody can go driving in all that snow. It’s gotta be like three feet high at this point.”

“Guys, turn off your phones, they’re useless for now and we can’t waste the battery.” Alya instructed, turning off her own phone “Marinette, can you try picking the door lock?”

“I can try, but I doubt it’ll be as simple as a desk one.” The half asian girl went to the door with the makeshift lockpick. The rest of the class stirred with anxiety. Kim paced up and down the steps. Chole, for once, was being very quiet. She was the only one who hadn’t turned off her phone. She was busy tapping away, trying her best to make a call, connect to something, anything. She even tried creating a hotspot. Nathaniel had taken Adrien’s usual seat at the head of the class and watched Marinette try for the door. Alix tapped her foot impatiently, watching the door with Nino, Alya, and Adrien hovering around the black haired one.

After twenty minutes, the door was still unlocked and the hairpin was leaving little indents in her fingertips “I don’t think this is gonna work.”

“Then let me try.” Alix took the pin from her, got on her knees and frantically tried to pick the door.

Marinette and Alya traded looks. This wasn’t going to work. 

And Chloe, feeling the frustration and helplessness pile up, finally imploded “GOD! We’re fucking trapped in here because of that stupid bitch! It’s getting dark! Nothing is working!!” She threw her phone at the ground, cracking the screen “We’re all gonna DIIIIE!” She sobbed pitifully into her hands.

Her sworn enemy came to the blond’s aid. She grabbed her shoulders “Hey, hey. Don’t say things like that. We’re gonna be okay. I promise!”

“How are /you/ gonna save us from /that/?!” Her arm swept to the window and a huge gust of wind accompanied her gesture. It felt all the more gruesome now.

Marinette stuttered, trying to think of something to say. 

Before she could say anything, Adrien had moved to the window “We’re getting out of here. One way or another.” He opened one of the windows. The students called his name, as if that would stop him from the stupid shit he was about to do. The frozen air kept everyone still as Adrien climbed out the window, some snow falling into the classroom behind him. He shut the door after himself and ran out of sight of the window. 

Everyone went to the window, staring out after him “Adrien!” Marinette yelled out “I’m going after him.” She moved to unlock the same window, but Alya pulled her back “We can’t! We can’t lose both of you. He’s just trying to find another way in, if he can’t, he’ll come right back. He’s not stupid.”

“And what if he doesn’t come back, Alya?” She argued, struggling out of her best friend’s grip with success.

“Shut your fucking mouth Marinette! He’ll come back!” Chloe shoved at the bluenette. Weakly, she added “He has to..”

Tensions were high, everyone waited with baited breath.


	4. The Gushing Snow

❄Chapter Four❄

Nino broke the silence “It’s been over ten minutes. We should go after him, bring him back before he-”

CLINK.

The classroom’s eyes and eyes turned towards the door. 

CLINK.

The noise came again. Everyone herded to the door and on the repeat of the third sound, the door swung open, and the fireaxe that Adrien had used to break open the knob was stuck inside the wooden floor. He huffed, still holding the end of the handle, his breath came out in cold puffs “Hey guys..”

Nino grabbed his friend and hugged him fiercely tight before he smacked him upside the head “You fucking idiot! I could kill you! Don’t go around doing stupid shit like that ever again!”

“Sorry.” He shivered “Brrr, should’ve thought to bring my jacket with me.”

Alya rolled her eyes with Nino at him “Here, everyone suit up, we gotta go find Mme. Mendeleiev before she gets herself killed out there.”

The class had followed the order smoothly, going to the back of the classroom where their jackets were kept until Chloe scoffed “Excuse me? I’m not going out there. It’s a blizzard!”

“Suit yourself Chloe. The rest of us are going.” Marinette crossed the way to the closet.

She paused when she heard the rarely vocal voice speak up “Not that I agree with Chloe… But, um, I think I agree with Chloe.” The room looked to , Nathanaël letting him continue to speak though he had paused, as if predicting more of an assault to him “Since Adrien left, the snow has already risen two inches. And it looks like it’s still going hard outside. No one has snowshoes, Adrien looks like he needs to warm up and take a rest. We shouldn’t go out, at least, not all of us, or the others wouldn’t be able to get back in.” He rubbed his arm, looking away and towards the ground “This storm could kill us if we’re not careful.”

After looking outside and at Adrien, who was looking pale and cold, Marinette amended the plan “Alright, then Alya and Kim, if they want to?”

She looked to him for confirmation. He nodded, willing to follow her. Her best friend nodded too, joining her at the closets to get their jackets on. “We can get dressed and go outside to find Mme. Mendeleiev. Alix?”

“Yea, what’s up?” 

“You know your way around the school pretty well, I think finding the heater in the school would be pretty important, make sure it doesn’t automatically turn off?” Marinette grabbed her clothes along with the other two, getting ready.

Alix nodded, “Yea, I’ll see if I can find a floor plan and a way to get into the room without breaking the door like blondie over here.” She left the room with her instructions.

Marinette slipped her black mittens and red winter cap on “And everyone else should head to a higher floor, away from the window. I don’t think anyone is coming for us until the morning so we need to find somewhere to sleep. Nino? Take charge?”

“Oui mademoiselle.” He saluted her. Alya tossed him Adrien’s coat, hat, and scarf “I think we’re gonna have to break down the closet door to get our backpacks though. I mean, we already broke one door, what’s two?”

Marinette groaned, not happy by the sounds of it, but it was better than nothing “Okay, just be careful.” Her eyes flick to the blond, getting bundled up in his jacket and the scarf she had give him years ago for his birthday “Make sure Adrien doesn’t go into shock from the cold or something. Kim, Alya,” She called to each, heading past the four students left in the classroom.

❄❄❄❄❄

The bus loop is stationed at the back of the school with a single road that wraps around one side of the building and out into the street. One bus was sitting there for any detentioned students that needed a ride home. They can see the tail end of the bus out of the window. The snow is over the tires. There is no hope in getting the thing out. But the three students haven’t seen any sign of the teacher, other than some melted snow and slush on the ground from when she must have opened the door and went outside.

Marinette tries the door handle but retracts it immediately. It’s ice cold, even through her glove. She grabbed it again, now steeled for it. She has to yank on the door over and over, some of the snow had melted from the heat of the building and then turned back to ice in the process. 

The three of them shiver. The sound of the storm is much worse with the door open. 

Kim digs through the snow, making them an incline so that they can get on top of it. Once the three of them climb up it’s a struggle to walk. The snow sinks them in every step and the wind whips around them. Twigs hit their legs and batter their jeans. She can see debrie from the trees and the city like a sign and a street light in the bus loop. A branch as big as a dog flies just by the bus. Marinette can barely hear Alya when she yells over it “LOOK AROUND THE BUS!”

The bus isn’t far but half crawling through the snow isn’t easy. When they reach the bus, the black haired girl yells over the screaming storm “CHECK THE FRONT. I’LL DO THE BACK.” Marinette checks around the back of the bus, while Kim and Alya go to the front. 

One step into a softer patch of snow has half her leg sink in with it. It’s a minor annoyance. She has to fall back onto her ass to yank her leg out. She barely notices it in time.

A branch as thick as her arm had gotten tumbled through the snow and a gush of wind blows her cap right off and the branch knocks into her chest and shoulder. 

Marinette has to catch her chilled breath and cries out, holding her shoulder. She lies in the snow for all of two seconds until the wet, cold chill seeps into her clothes and she sits up. The cold is numbing the pain in her chest and shoulder like an immediate ice pack. She turns onto her knees, she’s at the back of the bus. She spots her hat and grabs it. 

Another gush of wind has her bracing herself against the bus so she won’t fall face first into the snow. 

CLANK

The bus gets shaken by a huge branch, half her size, barreling into the back of the bus, breaking down the door. The wind calms down, almost silent but then it’s all followed by a scream, a human scream that makes her heart race.

Marinette climbs into the newly opened door. She jumps over the branch and runs to the front of the bus. She has to stare through the folded door of the bus as red, red blood gushes out of the body of Mme. Mendeleiev. She had a shovel beside her, having gotten a decent amount of snow out of the way of the bus, her body was slumped into the ditch she had created. A branch protrudes from her chest and spurts out blood, coating the white snow. Like a murder slushie. She covers her mouth with her hand. She might be sick. 

Kim bangs on the hood of the bus with his fist to draw her attention. He yells. She can hear him only because the wind has calmed down for the moment. Alya is getting pulled away by his other hand. 

She looks back at her teacher. There is blood gushing out of her but no, there is nothing they can do for her. Even if the hero in her just wants to try to save her anyway. The pain in her shoulder and chest reminds her that she is every bit of human Mme. Mendeleiev /was/. 

Marinette turns her head away but she won’t forget the sight. It’s burned into her retinas. 

It’s not until they are back inside and have to move more snow out of the way to slam the door back shut does she realize that she has been clenching her cap tight in her hands.

She has her back against the door. Alya paces, Kim looks between the two of them “What do we do now?”

The black haired girl holds her shoulder, grunts as she gets off the door “We’ll just go back to the others. Don’t tell them about...her.”

Alya scoffs “We can’t just not tell them! They’re gonna ask. And she’s fucking- she’s-”

“I know! I know!” She yelled back, cutting her off. She puts a hand through her hair and squeezes it, tugging at the roots “We’ll just- We’ll just say that we think she went to the shed. It’s near there. It’s probably where she got that shovel… We’ll just say that she probably got caught out there. But it has AC. She’ll be fine until the morning.” Marinette stomped her boots, getting rid of the remains of the snow “They don’t have to know. It’ll just make them go crazy if they knew.”

Alya and Kim nod solemnly.

Marinette adds “I’ll tell them. Let’s just, go find them.”

The two follow behind her. She pulls out her phone. She turns it on. She knows it’s pretty useless but she sends out a text to three people. Her mother, her father, and Chat Noir. They all say the same thing ‘Be Safe.’


	5. What's Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette, Alya, and Kim have yet to return from the bus and Nino and Adrien prepare to go out and find them. And Chloe is acting unusually not terrible.

Adrien walked besides Chloe, Nino just ahead of them. His friend swinging the fireaxe idly by his side. The years since middle school had waned her of her super need for clingness to him. As well as her romantic infatuation with him. It had taken a lot to get to get his childhood best friend to a more mellow state -it didn't help that he was obvious to her crush for /years/- but it had been worth it. She was overdramatic and headstrong and boastful and a daddies-little-girl, but she had become a better person. In Adrien's eyes she had matured. In a years time, college would do so even more.

She didn't say it but Chloe looked scared. He's seen the look enough times to know that she doesn't like this situation. She's powerless and cut off from the rest of the world. She is being brutally quiet. Eh, quiet for Chloe. She only complained about the first two rooms that the other teens were perfectly fine settling down in for what looks like the night. The building is still blissfully warm. 

It's not cold, nothing like the burning, freezing nightmare outside. He was out there maybe ten minutes, half that time spent forcing open a window enough for him to squeeze through, and he can still feel it on his skin. 

Alix isn't back yet. Neither are the other three. Nino set a timer on his phone. If they aren't back in twenty minutes, Nino and Adrien have volunteered to go out looking for them. The timer is almost up and Nino keeps trading glances with him. He gets that. Alya and Marinette and Kim are their friends. And the Nino/Alya thing that has been going on since they met makes him more nervous to let her go. Maybe after all of this, they'll give it a shot and do it for real instead of flirting with the idea of it.

He knows he shouldn't waste the battery but he turned his phone back on. He hasn't even met her, but he misses her. And now, with this storm, those date plans aren't looking too bright. His father will be worried sick by the morning and fly back only to find that he isn't home. So a lunch date doesn't look like it will work.

He breathes in a sigh through his nose and exhales, putting his phone back into his pocket and dropping the three backpacks he had carried with him from the room the teacher had locked them in. He carries Marinette's, Kim's, and his own while Nino has Alya's in his care. Nino pushed open the door. Nathanaël stayed behind in the second classroom on the left. It didn't have windows to the outside, and it was a science classroom so there was a gas line in there, kept the room a little warmer.

When Adrien stepped into the room, he found it a little more inviting than when they first picked the room. Alix had joined Nathanaël in the room and together they had pushed all the desks to either side of the room and taken the three beds and blankets from the nurse's office and stacked them in one corner. And they had pulled a tv and had what looked like the main modem for the school sitting on the floor. Alix waved them in "Hey guys. Didn't end up finding the heater, but I got into the AV room and took this. I figure we can at least try to get a connection working. Better than sitting around with no Wifi."

"That's great." Nino put down his and Alya's backpacks. He huffed, setting them down "We should still go looking for the heater. I got a feeling that it does have some automatic thi-" The background noise of the heater went off. He hummed "Yea, thought so."

Adrien put down his bags in the same spot as Nino "We should be good for a while." He knocked on the walls "Building is made of concrete. And, I mean totally guesstimating on the size of the school and the storm's wind chill, but we should be good for at least two and a half hours, when the sun goes down."

"Nice guesstimation buddy." His best friend hit him in the arm "Well, we can go look for the heater before that happens." The timer went off on Nino's phone.

"Oooooor we can go make sure your girlfriend isn't a popsicle." Adrien hit him back.

"She's not my girlfriend."

The collective 'Okay' that echoed throughout the room said otherwise.

The DJ ignored them.

The blond rolled his eyes and grabbed his hat and the blue scarf he had been given years ago by someone who wasn't his father, but someone who hadn't said a word about it since "Let's go." He pulled on his coat and opened the classroom door, only to have Chloe pull on his arm.

"Don't go outside." She yanked him closer, her eyes hard "I don't want you going outside, and you better not."

"Chloe." He pried her arm off insistently "I have to go out. It'll be quick. I'll be back." He promised her, walking out of the room backwards. The moment he turned around, he bumped into a body.

Marinette grabbed his coat to hold herself steady and he held onto her to keep her upright. That stuttering that had worn off a couple of years ago whenever he was around -he never found out the reason she did act like that- was back "A-Adrien!" 

"Sorry, it's my bad." He let her go and the blush faded from her cheeks fast "Glad to see you guys are back. We were just about to go looking for you." He looked around the group of three, a blond brow rose up in confusion "Where's Mme. Mendeleiev?"

Alya marched past him into the room and Kim had his head towards the window. Marinette answered for them "We.. We couldn't find her. We saw the bus outside but the snow was up to the tires. I.. um, think she went towards the shed. She's probably stuck in there with how bad the wind is. But it has AC, ya know. So, she should be alright out there."

Nino tried to capture Alya's attention when she walked in the door, but she went straight for her backpack and said nothing. So he ignored whatever mood the cold had set her in -she never wanted to be bothered when she was like that- and joined the others in the hallway "Didn't you hear the heater turn off? Alix wasn't able to find it, so we'll have to go to Principal Damocles' office and look for a layout of the school. If she's in a building that far out, she could be in trouble."

The blond agreed "Yea, we better hurry." He and Nino took a few steps past them when he heard Marinette following behind. He turned on his ankle to face her "You don't have to come with us. You were out there way longer than us. You should rest."

She shook her head and walked past them "It's fine. I can't just sit around and wait, I'd rather do something." She went down the stairs, letting the boys follow her.

Nino held the axe out to him "Here. Go with her. I think I should stay and, ya know, maybe give the modem a try. It might cheer everyone up if we can contact others."

The taller teen took the fireaxe from him "Sure. Good luck." Adrien picked up his pace to catch up to Marinette. He had to half run down the hall to get to her side. Damn, she really had long legs "Nino's staying back." He explained "The two of us should be able to take care of this."

"Yea." She answered him but her eyes were drawn forward, steely blue.

Something about it had Adrien swallowing uncomfortably “Um, you okay?”

"Yea." She kept her eyes forward.

His eyes drifted to the side, away from her, daringly approaching the subject "You don't sound like you're okay."

"I. Am. O. Kay." She strained, speaking every word with every other step.

"Marinette, what?" He grabbed her arm but she yanked it out of his grasp "You- What's wrong?"

She had stopped "I told you. It's nothing." She took a look at the window, eyes on the snow "We can't all be heroes like you Adrien. So drop it." She warned him, full of spite and was about to continue onward.

However, the blond was willing to risk it. He grabbed her shoulder, firmly this time "No. Stop it." His eyes followed hers outside "What happened out there? What did you see?"

Her eyes strained. She grabbed at his hand and ripped his grip away. 

That forced him to drop the axe and they started fighting. Marinette trying to get away, tears pooling in her eyes, while Adrien fought to hold her close. He ended up pinning her to a wall, her wrists in his palms, pressed against the wall.

Then she started crying. Her body giving in. Her head fell onto his shoulder, weeping into his jacket.

Adrien let her wrists go and they clung to each other. He was so confused. What could possibly be out there? He turned his head towards the window, as if that would provide any insight.

She muttered something against his warm jacket.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" He wanted to turn her head towards him but felt like holding her face like this would be too intimate.

She spoke clearer this time "I can't tell you what I saw."

"Why not?" He really wished that she would look at him.

She shook her head "Please, just... trust me. I can't tell you." She lifted her head up and wiped her eyes "Please Adrien? Don't tell anyone about this?"

He looked off to the side and bit his inner lip. Should he really keep this between them? Well, he supposed that Alya and Kim must know too. If it was going to be more of an issue past tonight, they'd figure it out. So he nodded "Okay. I won't."

She wiped her high cheekbones again, getting rid of the last traces of her crying "Thanks Adrien. Ha, it's funny. I feel better after that."

He shrugged "I didn't really do anything. No need to thank me." Their arms fell away from each other. Adrien backed away, stooping down to pick up the fireaxe. He shivered, a gust of uncomfortable cold reaching him when he realized he was right near the glass "We should really get that heater turned on."

"Yea. Let's." She agreed, continuing towards the Principal's Office at a more relaxed pace.

❄❄❄❄❄

When they reached the door, Adrien tried for the handle, only to pull his hand back right away and squeak "Cold!"

Marinette rose a brow and used her gloved hand to try for the door. It was pretty freezing to the touch. She looked to him "Do you think that maybe one of the windows got broken in there? Or left open?"

He shrugged "That'd explain why it's so cold. He held his hand to the wooden door. He could feel the cold was seeping through the wood "I don't think we should open the door. If we can't get it closed, then this part of the building will just be freezing even with the heater on."

"So the window then?" She suggested.

He looked outside "Winds are blowing in from that way, so we should go through one that the the building is covering."

"Down the hall then. It'll be a longer walk but it'll be easier for us to get back in." She guided them towards the spot she had in mind. They opened the hatch. Marinette climbed out first. Adrien put on his gloves and followed after her. He sunk into the snow from his weight and had to crawl out.

The wind still blew hard, but he could hear her giggling as he climbed out and immediately stepped heavily into another pit. He rolled his eyes and she helped him out this time. Though she grunted from his weight. They stuck to the walls, using it to keep them upright. When they came to the office, they indeed found that something, likely a few rocks had broken the window and snow had poured inside. Even if they had broken the lock off, it would've been impossible to push the snow out of the way.

Using the but end of the axe, he cleared away the rest of the glass so that they could grab on and lift themselves up. Adrien climbed in first. He heard her grab onto edge but she couldn't lift herself up. He turned around and offered a hand to her. She first held out her right hand to meet his, but then thought better of it and reached out with her left hand. He switched his hands and helped her up and in.

Wordless, they look through the office, pulling open drawers and looking through files. It's a mess of papers turning into slush from the snow and drawers half pulled out until Adrien huffed and looked up towards the ceiling, only to see a placard of the layout of the school just beside the entrance door "You gotta be kidding me." He pulled out his phone and used the sleeve of his arm to wipe the plastic covering of the map. He had to take off his mitten to use the touchscreen. He took a picture of it but he already spotted where the heater was.

Marinette pulled up by his side and fingered the same room "It's gotta be here. By the art room. We should've known. They have the kilns near there too."

"No use beating ourselves over it now. Let's get back inside." He shoved his phone back in his pocket and put his glove back on. He could already feel how numb his fingertips were.

He stepped carefully out of the broken window. Marinette stood at the top of it and jumped down after him. She tripped when she landed on her shoulder and cried out in pain.

Adrien knelt down to her as she rolled onto her back and held her shoulder, trying to tuck in her chest "Marinette!" He yelled over the storm "What's wrong?"

She hissed through her teeth and sat up. The wind gushed out, cutting off whatever she said. She grabbed his shoulder, yanking her mouth near his ear "Get inside!"

He helped her up and they got to the cover of the building. She still held onto her shoulder, wincing when some of the wind buffeted their bodies. Adrien gave her a boost up the window before climbing in after her. They lied on the ground, breathing hard from the rush to get out of the snow. The blond sat up and hovered over her. He moved her jacket out of the way and pulled down the collar of her shirt to find a large swollen and black bruise stretching from her right shoulder to her chest "Jesus christ, when did this happen?"

She panted "When we went to the bus- ugh" She sat up, pulling her clothes back in place "A branch hit me. To be honest I forgot about it until we went back out. It only hurts if I touch it or strain my arm too much."

"It looks bad." He commented, helping the two of them to their feet "After this, no more going out. We need to go to the nurse's office and get something for that and, I don't know, maybe make sure nothing is broken."

"Okay, we'll take care of me as soon as we make sure everyone doesn't freeze." She wiped the last of the snow off her jeans.

He shivered and realized he left the window open. He shut it "Deal."


	6. The Deal

❄Chapter Six❄

 

It was on the opposite side of the building. It would be easier to get to if they could cross the courtyard, but the snow was enough to ward them off and circle around. They had walked in silence. This was the first time since she had officially declared her feelings for him were dead that they had been alone. Now that the attraction Marinette use to feel towards him had dissipated, she was coming to realize how stupid it was to be so infatuated with him. She had a vague understanding of who he was, and it was her own fault really. Maybe if she didn't go so intensely in her own head and bothered to ask him anything about anything, things might have turned out differently. 

She was falling for someone who was in such stark contrast to Adrien. He was a goofball. He had the lamest puns. He was a tomcat, flirtatious to a fault. He made her feel so happy. Especially when he let his guard down, unexpectedly. Asked her her deep, dark secrets and she felt safe enough to answer. And flirt back, want to see who was this guy was. They were suppose to trade pictures tonight. He had described himself pretty well. Blond (guess she had a pension for it), pretty fit because of his job. He said that he would probably be pudgy if it wasn't for that.

The thoughts that came floating because of Chat Noir had her smiling to herself and Adrien took notice. He nudged her with his elbow "What's got you smiling like that?"

She was snapped out of her temporary revine "Oh, sorry! Just thinking."

"About what?" He smiled as he asked, eyes keen on her, saying he'd love to know.

She breathed through her nose and rolled her eyes. Of course he'd want to know. The old crush interested in the new, even if he wasn't aware of it. She answered "A guy."

"A guy? What guy have you been seeing?" He nudged her with his elbow a few more times. He might just be worse than Alya.

"Going to see would be more accurate. We've just been talking online. Getting to know each other, you know." She twisted a string in her jacket "I haven't known him too long, but I wish he was here."

He snorted.

"What?"

He shook his head "Nothing." He smiled "Don't worry about it." He stopped at a door, making her stumble. She turned around to face him "I think this is our stop." He tried the handle to the door. It was predictably locked so Adrien readied his axe "Step back?"

She was a little miffed about being blown off, but not wanting her head blown off, she took a few steps back so that he could knock the handle off. 

It took him two strikes for it to fall off. The door swung open with a light push from Adrien. It opened up to a dark pit with a trail of stairs leading down into it. He looked to her "Think you can light the way?"

Marinette pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. She could see that both of her messages had failed to send. Predictable, but still, heartbreaking. 

Adrien went down first, using the light from her phone to guide his steps down. At the bottom step, his arm felt for the wall and he tried for the lights. The lightbulb flickered just a bit above but didn't go off. Adrien flicked it back off and on, except it remained dead this time. He set the axe on the wall and pulled out his phone for an extra light.

To the left of the stairs was the heater. It took up most of the space for the room. Marinette touched it and it was still warm. Must have kept itself warm, even when it was off. Adrien popped something open on the wall. The controls for it. The black haired girl held her light up for him "Looks like the breakers are down here too." He closed the wall case back up.

They looked around for anything that would control the heater at all. The only thing the two could find that didn't look like a lever or switch they shouldn't mess with was a button labeled 'Manuel On'. They both stared at it "This should work, right?"

Marinette shrugged, "Only one way to find out." She hit the button and after two seconds the cogs in the machine started turning. Hot air blew into their faces. They sighed in relief "Wooo! Pound it!" She held her fist out and he responded, hitting her fist back "Mission complete. Let's get back to the others."

 

The blond clicked his tongue "We have completed a mission but you still owe me a deal. We are going to the nurse's office."

Marinette pouted "Do we really have to? I'm fine. I swear."

He turned off his phone light "We have a deal. So no. We're going."

She groaned but followed him up the stairs.

 

❄❄❄❄❄❄

 

Once the silence was broken. Talking with Adrien as a friend was nice. He cared about her, even after years of her stuttering and then another couple of years being standoffish as hell. Maybe being friends with him should've been how she treated him all this time after all.

"Have a seat, madmoizelle. On this comfortable steel string bed." He gestured to the metal frame where the beds were suppose to be, but since their friends had striped the mattresses off to have their makeshift beds for the night, she would have to sit there while her new doctor took care of her "And strip for me please." He added.

She rolled her eyes but took off her jacket and pulled off her shirt carefully "Ouch, so no full arm extensions would be fantastic." 

"So we'll keep your shirt off for the rest of your healing time." He put a knee on the springs beside her.

She looked at him, half in surprise, "Pffft, shut up." She shoved his chest.

"Sorry. Alya and Nino tell me I don't know when to quit it sometimes. I'm flirtatious to a fault." His hands went to her shoulder first, touching her injury "This will hurt. A lot probably." He pressed into her bones. She flinched "Sorry. I'll make this quick."

She breathed through her teeth "It's okay. It just stings."

His fingers pressed in, trying to find any breaks in her bones "So, you and this guy, what's his name? What's he like?"

"Umm, is it weird that I don't know his name? Not his real name at least." She would blush in embarrassment if she wasn't currently trying to suppress some sheiking. 

"Not weird at all. Did I tell you? I'm talking to a girl online too. At least, I hope she's a girl. She sounds like a girl. I've talked to her on the phone. I mean, I wouldn't mind if she was a guy. Just you know, hopefully my age." He felt along towards her chest, pressing into her ribs.

She huffed "Adrien, your bedside manner is superb. But no," She sighed, his inspection of her injury complete "you never told me about an online girl. Or that you'd be okay with a guy."

He blushed and shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck "Um, well. It's a thing."

She grabbed her shirt, attempting to pull it over her head.

He helped her into her shirt, her head popping out of the collar "What's she like?"

His lips curved into an instantaneous smile "Aw man. She's so awesome. She's smart, amazingly smart and funny. She sounds so cute."

"How does someone sound cute?" She pulled on her jacket and stood up, pulling her hair out of her shirt.

"You know, all like sweet but also kind of husky and sexy. She's also pretty kinky? Like she says she's tried some stuff but I never have and we kinda, did stuff, over the ph-"

She cut him off "Are you telling me, Adrien Agreste, had phone sex with some online chick?!" She giggled "No way. I don't believe it."

His cheeks were still sparkling red "What do you want? Photographic evidence?"

"From you? Possibly." It slipped out of her mouth before she could control herself. She was standing way too close to Her heart was racing. Maybe that little crush hadn't completely gone away. She broke away, moving for the door to lead them back to their friends "Where did you even met her? Some sort of kinky website?"

He followed her out the door and into the hallway. Adrien snorted "No. I met her on that site my father made. Not on my official account of course. I made another one."

"You what?" She froze, turning to face him.

"I made another account?" He repeated, brows drawing in from her reaction "Um, is that bad?"

Marinette's head was somehow going faster than her heartbeat "You're Chat." She stated definitively.

The cogs in his mind churned a second later, his mouth dropping into an 'O'. But before either of them could say another word, a parade of footsteps came from down the hall.

Someone yelled out "Chloe!"

And like the blond devil she was, she appeared, rounding the corner "There you are!!" She jogged down the hall, ending by gripping Adrien in a hug, before hitting his chest "I told you not to go outside! But here you are, I'm tracking you from a fucking window that was clearly left open for a while and two snowy footsteps all around the halls??"

Adrien held his hand up defensively, one still holding onto the axe "I'm sorry, we had to."

"Had to my ass!" She yelled at him, poking him in the arm repeatedly.

Nino, Kim, and Alya all turned the corner. Alya grunted "There! You found your prince in shining armor and all that. Can we please stop roaming around the school? I can't keep and eye on you and cook! Nathaniel doesn't have the refined palate that I do!"

Alya turned back around almost immediately, while the boys joined them down the hall. Nino huffed "Sorry, she was really worried after hearing the heaters come on but you two hadn't shown up. Everything cool?"

Adrien nodded "Uhhh.." He looked towards Marinette, some lost words on his lips. So much to say and yet, unable to say at the moment without causing some terrible scene "Yea. Everything's peachy."

Marinette's eyes stayed on him in wonder. Her chest thudding out of her control. She was falling in love with him all over again and now trying to match him with Chat Noir was so easy. But fear striked in her. What was he feeling? Now that he knew it was /her/. Their eyes met again. Marinette couldn't pay mind to whatever Nino and Kim and Chloe were arguing about as they lingered half a step behind everyone.

He mouthed 'Later?'

She could only assume the question mark added to it but it made her chest swell and she nodded in agreement. Whatever they needed to say to each other. They needed to say it later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments give me life. Thanks to those who have already left some <3 
> 
>  
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> More to come.


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